Description:
The focus of reading and discussion in EDAT 6115 this week was on assessing student learning. Our discussions in class were based on formative assessments and why they are important for both teachers and students. When thinking about an effective learning environment, it is important to think about the types of assessments you place in front of your students.
Analyze:
Assessing student learning is all about having a plan for where students are moving, how you will go about getting them there (instructional strategies), and how to know if they have met the learning goals. The first step in planning effective assessments for our students is to determine our instructional objectives and how we plan on teaching the content. Slavin (2018) describes the importance of having a plan, “Setting out objectives at the beginning of a course is an essential step in providing a framework into which individual lessons will fit (Slavin, p. 340). In order to write an objective for learning various items need to be determined: the conditions of the learning, an action verb describing what the students will do, and a criterion for success. Another important detail to keep in mind is that you want your instructional objective to be specifically about the subject and content, they need to be meaningful and specific.
After determining an instructional objective for your students, the next step is to determine the task you want your students to complete. Your task should include identifying what students already know, including what they need to learn and determine any subskills that will need to be included to ensure student understanding. Following these steps may seem out of order, as some teachers start with the assessment and base everything around that. However, to be an effective teacher, background design should be used when planning for instruction. Slavin (2018) describes the concept of backward design, “…It makes sense to start by writing objectives for the course as a whole, then objectives for large units, and only then specific behavior objectives” (Slavin, p. 342).
Only after creating your student objectives can you determine how you will assess your students through evaluation. Slavin (2018) defines evaluation, “Evaluation, or assessment, consists of all the means used in schools to formally measure student performance” (Slavin, p. 348). The objectives you created should be closely aligned with your assessment. There are various ways that teachers can choose to assess their students like through informal and formal assessments. Informal assessments could include simple questioning to your students or tickets out of the door. Formal, more formative assessments, including writing an essay, taking a test, or a presentation, just to name a few.
What is the point in providing assessments to our students? One of the main reasons is to use as a guide to determine where your students are and to determine if they are learning the information needed to advance. There are six reasons that teachers give assessments to students that include the following: feedback to students, feedback to teachers, provides information about student learning to parents, provides information for selection, provides for accountability, and incentives can be used with assessment to increase student effort in the classroom (Slavin, 2018, p. 348). Know that we have knowledge about the uses of assessments with our students, it is important to know the differences between the various types of assessments such as formative and summative assessments, and norm-referenced and criterion-referenced assessments.
Assessments are usually divided into two categories: formative and summative assessments. A formative assessment is geared to figuring out the placement of student learning and how students could continue improving. Formative assessments are given frequently throughout instruction and provide the student with frequent feedback on their learning as they progress. A summative assessment is geared toward knowing if the student knows the content by the end of a unit. These types of assessments are not as frequent, but they do allow for the reliability of progress with our students. The other types of evaluations are norm-referenced and criterion-referenced which has to do with how viewers are analyzing and interpreting scores of assessments. A norm-referenced interpretation compares student’s scores with other students who took the exact same test, these are commonly used with national testing. In our school, we utilize the IOWA test as our norm-referenced assessment. A criterion-referenced interpretation is only focusing on one specific student and how they achieved mastery on a set of skills.
Based on the knowledge gained from evaluations, how do teachers go about determining the best way to evaluate their students? It is important to remember that there isn’t a right or wrong way, it is really up to the teacher and their students and what is going to work best in their classrooms. Slavin does suggest, however, that two types of evaluations should be used: one based on giving feedback to students and the other to rank students in comparison with a larger group of students (Slavin, 2018, p. 351). Now that we have an understanding of assessments, it is time to construct an assessment! There are a few principles to keep in mind when creating a test: tests should be based around an objective, they should measure a learning task from your instruction, the questions should match up with your learning outcomes, they should be closely tied with how the results will be interpreted, they should be interpreted with caution, and they should be utilized to improve student learning (Slavin, 2018, pp. 353-354).
After considering several principles, you can begin constructing your test questions for your students. The first step is to determine what concepts your test will cover and how many questions you are going to include. In addition, you will need to determine what type of questions you will ask, will they be selected-response questions, or will they be constructed-response questions where students do the writing? Selected-response questions could include multiple-choice items, true-false, and matching. A constructed-response question has the student supply the answer through writing a response to a question or prompt, or it could be simpler like using fill-in-the-blank. Based on the types of questions you decide to ask will also determine how you will grade the assessment. Selected-response questions are easier to grade, whereas, a constructed-response question is more subjective and would need a rubric or guide in order to grade it fairly.
Another type of assessment could include a portfolio or performance assessment. These types of assessments are said to be more reliable and authentic because it truly shows the students learning. Slavin (2018) describes portfolios as, “… the collection and evaluation of samples of student work over an extended period” (Slavin, p. 368). Portfolios are wonderful tools because they show progression over time. Slavin (2018) describes performance assessments as, “Tests that involve actual demonstrations of knowledge or skills in real life…” (Slavin, p. 370). A performance assessment could include a student giving an oral report or completing an in-class project/assignment. The key to performance assessments is ensuring that they are scored accurately to show student improvement of the learning objectives through creating a scoring rubric. Lastly, assessments can be given through digital games and simulations. Technology is a great tool to use with assessments because of ease of scoring. Some examples of digital games and simulations could include a simulated lab or students playing a game against a computer. Students’ scores could be reordered and used to evaluate progress.
Do teachers grade everything? How do you determine what work from your students is necessary to take a grade on? Teachers need to determine their grading criteria so that students and parents know the expectations. Many schools utilize letter grades that correlate to a percentage score. The only issue with letter grades is that students’ scores can depend on the type of test and the number of questions per test. Another form of grading is called performance grading. Performance grading includes the teacher determining a grade for a student based on students’ progress throughout the year (Slavin, 2018, p. 375). Where do all of these grades go? At the end of each 9 weeks or four times per year, teachers compile grades from quizzes, test, projects, participation, and more to formulate a student report card grade. Report cards can be difficult because there are many considerations teachers need to make, such as missing work and grade. Also, it is vital to remember that report cards should never be a surprise for parents or students. Consistent feedback is needed to ensure parents and students are informed of progress.
Reflection:
As a second-year teacher, I am still figuring out assessments and determining what types of assessments I like to utilize with my students. Every group of students is different and has different needs, so for the past two years, I have used a variety of assessment methods with my students. To me, the concept of assessment has to do with seeing what your students have learned and using that information to guide your instruction or to determine if any students need remediation. I do, however, have mixed feelings about the concept of assessments. One type of assessment that I strongly dislike is state assessments. I understand that they have good uses and the state needs to monitor student learning, however, I believe that these assessments are not created in a way that accurately measures what our students know or have learned. In addition, they don’t show all of the other skills I have taught my students throughout the year such as learning to be a good friend or how to be empathetic to their peers.
Throughout the readings and discussions this week, I learned that it is okay to use formative assessments more frequently to assess students’ progress. Previously I was more focused on the summative assessment and getting my students ready to take that as the end of the unit. I learned that students need multiple opportunities to show growth and formative assessments such as a ticket out of the door or a quick quiz could be utilized to show growth! Based on what I learned this week, I plan on implementing formative assessments into every lesson through quick, checking for understanding strategies, even if it is just a turn and talk.
Lastly, the reading and discussions this week caused me to think about the performance assessments I utilized throughout the last year. I used a performance assessment called an AVID One-Pager. In this assessment, students are given a piece of blank paper and a paper with the requirements of the different items the students need on their page that correlates to the unit. The students are also given reading passages and they can use their journals. The readings specifically caused me to think about the ways in which I was grading these performance assessments and the lack of a quality rubric to assess students’ performance. My main question that came up is, what should be assessed through the One-Pager? Should student creativity be assessed when my goal is the progression of learning objectives? My action step is to revamp my performance assessment rubrics by sitting down with my school curriculum support teacher to determine what criteria I should be assessing.
Reference
Slavin, R. E. (2018). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (12th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
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